News Release: Higher education sector celebrates year-on-year increases in student satisfaction at WUSCAs 2025

Last night, representatives from universities across the UK came together to celebrate the 12th annual Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCAs) at The Brewery in London. A celebration of the student voice, the WUSCAs is the only UK event of its kind where students alone judge and review their universities across 12 categories.  

Hosted by Alexander Armstrong - much-loved British comedian, actor, and host of the hit quiz show Pointless on BBC1 - the event reflected a rise in student satisfaction across the 36,000+ student reviews collected this year.  

Mirroring last year’s results, this year’s student review collection cycle shows that student satisfaction levels have increased across all 12 recognised categories. Of the awarded categories, Career Prospects saw the biggest increase in satisfaction levels, rising from 4.18 out of 5 in 2024 to 4.28 in 2025.  

Students also reviewed additional categories during the review collection process, which weren’t recognised at the awards evening. Of these, work placements and internships saw the biggest increases in student satisfaction, while course content was the only category to see a dip in student satisfaction.  

Simon Emmett, CEO IDP UK and Ireland, and Chief Partner Officer IDP Education, says, “The increased performance in student satisfaction reflected in this year’s awards, and by the ongoing stream of Whatuni student reviews, demonstrates just how much the UK higher education sector is constantly improving and striving for excellence. We know that capturing the views and measurements of students (and these awards) – based entirely on their real-life experiences - is helping to drive positive changes for the sector and to highlight best practice. The WUSCAs are about celebrating universities and colleges that are truly placing students at the heart of the system.” 

This year’s winner of the University of the Year category – the most coveted award of the evening - was the University of Suffolk. Congratulations to the University of Suffolk for delivering exceptional student experiences across the board. Middlesex University nabbed silver for University of the Year, followed by Queen's University Belfast with bronze. 

Robert Ellis, Associate Dean for Learning, Teaching and Student Experience & Associate Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Suffolk, said, “We are a small and relatively new university, but we have put students and their experiences at the heart of everything we do from the very beginning. This award is an enormous vote of confidence for us.”

Katie Pickard, President of Activities and Well-being at the University of Suffolk’s Students' Union, added, “This award means everything because it was voted for by our students. We are incredibly grateful and can’t wait to celebrate it with them. So much work and dedication from across all our departments have gone into making the University of Suffolk what it is today. We couldn’t be prouder of this win.”

Watch the below video to hear why students love studying at the University of Suffolk.  

The University of Suffolk also won the Student Support and Lecturers & Teaching Quality categories.  Another big winner of the night was the University of Chester, taking first prize for the International and Postgraduate. 

This year’s submission-based award, themed ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing Support’ was won by Bournemouth University. The winner was selected by a panel of current students.  

We are delighted to share an overview of all WUSCAs 2025 category winners below: 

Lecturers and Teaching Quality: University of Suffolk 

Halls and Student Accommodation: Bishop Grosseteste University 

Students’ Union: Queen’s University Belfast 

Facilities: Middlesex University 

Student Support: University of Suffolk 

Postgraduate: University of Chester 

Student Life: University of Newcastle 

Career Prospects: Harper Adams University 

Submission-based award - ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing Support’: Bournemouth University 

International: University of Chester 

Small or Specialist: Norland 

University of the Year: University of Suffolk 

We would like to thank all our sponsors for their involvement in this year’s event. They are HAVAS People, Hybrid, IELTS, CIM Higher & Further Education Group, Postgraduate Search, The Ambassador Platform, Vepple, and Universities UK International.  

For more information on the event, please visit our WUSCAs page.